Word: backgrounding
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...tables have been turned on us." There is in our society a kind of diseased journalism which has an "incredible virulence." I mean to identify a syndrome, the symptoms of which Jeff Wise exemplifies: irresponsibility on the part of the journalist (avoiding doing the necessary background research to write cogently on an issue); loss of logic (note Wise's thought process: Diseases were dealt with poorly, doctors learned how to find cures, a new disease defies cure, so we should deal with disease defies cure, so we should deal with diseases poorly as we did in the first place...
Although the Crimson had all that time to prepare its story, it gave only a partial and somewhat hazy account of Dr. Mark's position. It also omitted information that would be regarded as essential background by journalistic standards of even modest integrity: that Dr. Mark has, in the past, advocated brain surgery as at least a partial solution to the problem of urban violence...
...more than three decades at the pinnacle of fashion photography. But at the same time, he has perfected a mordant style of portraiture that mocks the earthly vanity his fashion shots glorify. The fixtures of that style are familiar: unsmiling figures shot in sharp focus against a plain white background. (Avedon started his career taking identity-card shots for the Merchant Marine.) The results can be pitiless. With every wrinkle and sag set out in high relief, even the mightiest plutocrat seems just one more dwindling mortal...
...Ninoy moved from mayor to governor to Senator, Cory stayed quietly in the background. The Aquinos' comfortable life in a middle-class Manila suburb was severely disrupted in 1972 when Marcos jailed Ninoy, his most outspoken critic. After Ninoy was released for medical reasons in 1980, the couple moved to Boston, where they lived for three years before Ninoy decided that he must return home to unite the anti-Marcos forces...
Naturally, few Americans are used to the notion of a relatively wealthy Nicaraguan family being waited on by a maid in the comfort of their own house. But though the Barrios enjoy some of the trappings of their exalted family background (they are closely related to the influential Chamorros, who were the leading aristocrats on the side opposed to Somoza in the 1979 revolution), they play a considerable role rebuilding the country that faces constant terror from U.S.-sponsored contras. Their lifestyle and demeanor are accessible to the average Yankee viewer, yet their politics have been slandered from here...